Bilateral ties between S'pore, Germany are very strong & substantive: K Shanmugam

SINGAPORE: Germany and Singapore enjoy very strong and substantive bilateral ties, Foreign Affairs Minister, K Shanmugam said.Speaking to the media after a meeting with his German counterpart Minister Dr Guido Westerwelle in Singapore, Mr Shanmugam said Singapore looks forward to a stronger role, a greater role that Germany can play in this region.With Asia being an economically vibrant...

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Karnataka releases Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu

HUBLI (KARNATAKA): Karnataka has started releasing Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu as directed by the Supreme Court, chief minister Jagdish Shettar said on Saturday. "We have to respect the Supreme Court directive. We will petition the court Monday for relief as we ourselves are facing severe shortage," he said in this north Karnataka town, 400 km from Bangalore. The Supreme Court Thursday directed...

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Space Pictures This Week: Sun Dragon, Celestial Seagull

Solar DragonImage courtesy SDO/NASAResembling a dragon's tail, remnants of a solar filament strain to escape the sun's gravity in an image released this week by NASA's Solar Dynamics...

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Northeast Shuts Down as Blizzard Batters Millions

A blizzard of possibly historic proportions battered the Northeast Friday into Saturday, and forecasters feared as much as two feet of snow and strong winds could shut down densely populated cities such as New York and Boston, where cars were ordered off the streets.State officials declared states of emergencies throughout the region, and utilities estimated more than a half-million...

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Lawmakers divided on Postal Service plan

Lawmakers wrestled Thursday with how to address Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe’s announcement that the U.S. Postal Service plans to end Saturday mail delivery in August. Donahoe moved to circumvent Congress’s long-standing resistance to the proposal for five-day delivery, a move the Postal Service thinks will save about $2 billion annually and help ease its financial losses....

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Riot police fire water cannon at India rape protestors

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India: Riot police fired water cannon on Friday at hundreds of protestors in the Indian state of Kerala demanding the resignation of a lawmaker over allegations he raped a schoolgirl 17 years ago.P.J Kurien, 72, the deputy speaker of the state's upper house, was acquitted of rape in a trial in 2005 but he has come under new pressure after his accuser demanded a fresh...

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Jagadish Shettar presents populist budget for poll-bound Karnataka

BANGALORE: The last budget of BJP's first government in the south, before it goes for assembly polls in April-May, is full of promises and scores of populist announcements. With focus on "aam admi" chief minister Jagdish Shettar presented his budget on Friday, amidst threat by former chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa to topple the government. The budget, with the total expenditure...

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Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

Talk about too close for comfort. In a rare cosmic encounter, an asteroid will barnstorm Earth next week, missing our planet by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers).Designated 2012 DA14, the space rock is approximately 150 feet (45 meters) across, and astronomers are certain it will zip harmlessly past our planet on February 15—but not before making history. It will pass within...

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in the hopes of catching suspected cop killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again as laid out in his chilling online manifesto.Police held a news conference late Thursday, alerting the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on...

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In the Loop: Interior pick could watch, but not deliver, a State of the Union address

The nomination announcement Wednesday afternoon of Sally Jewell, chief executive of outdoor company REI, to be secretary of the interior would put her eighth in the line of presidential succession should anything happen to President Obama, Vice President Biden, House and Senate leaders and the top four Cabinet officials at State, Treasury, Defense and Justice. Except for one problem: She...

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Japan's Suzuki sees April-December net profit rise 19%

TOKYO: Japan's Suzuki Motor said Thursday its net profit in the nine months to December jumped 19.2 per cent to US$517.8 million, thanks to strong Asian and domestic sales that offset a slump in Europe.The small-car maker earned 48.42 billion yen (US$517.8 million), while operating profit rose 5.9 per cent to 92.87 billion yen on sales of 1.82 trillion yen, up 1.4 per cent from a year...

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Karnataka may delay release of Cauvery water despite SC order

BANGALORE: Karnataka is unlikely to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu immediately though the Supreme Court on Thursday directed it to do so "forthwith", chief minister Jagadish Shettar indicated."It (directive to release water forthwith) is a matter of serious concern," Shettar told the state assembly soon after the apex court ordered Karnataka to release 2.44 tmc (thousand million cubic feet)...

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Humans Swap DNA More Readily Than They Swap Stories

Jane J. Lee Once upon a time, someone in 14th-century Europe told a tale of two girls—a kind one who was rewarded for her manners and willingness to work hard, and an unkind girl who was punished for her greed and selfishness.This version was part of a long line of variations that eventually spread throughout Europe, finding their way into the Brothers Grimm fairytales as Frau Holle, and...

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Armstrong May Testify Under Oath on Doping

Facing a federal criminal investigation and a deadline that originally was tonight to tell all under oath to anti-doping authorities or lose his last chance at reducing his lifetime sporting ban, Lance Armstrong now may cooperate.His apparent 11th-hour about-face, according to the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA), suggests he might testify under oath and give full details to...

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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks. In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director...

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Cities can be great, given good planning & infrastructure: Khaw

SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan says a major shift in planning and development strategy to invest ahead of demand will ensure Singapore remains a liveable city for future generations.He was speaking in Parliament on Wednesday as debate continues on the Population White Paper and Land Use Plan.Mr Khaw gave the assurance that there will be enough affordable homes for...

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Shanti Asiatic, Udgam students take top honours at Spell Bee contest

AHMEDABAD: The city hosted season five of the city finals of Radio Mirchi and HDFC Life's 'Spell Bee - India Spells 2013'.In what can be termed as India's biggest and only spelling contest, standard VIII student Kartikey Sharma of Shanti Asiatic School, Ahmedabad emerged as the winner along with the 1st runner-up, standard IX student Dia Majumder from Udgam School. They will now proceed to compete...

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The Real Richard III

It's a question that actors from Laurence Olivier to Kevin Spacey have grappled with: What did Richard III, the villainous protagonist of Shakespeare's famous historical drama, really look and sound like?In the wake of this week's announcement by the University of Leicester that archaeologists have discovered the 15th-century British king's lost skeleton beneath a parking lot, news continues...

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Lance Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

Federal investigators are in the midst of an active criminal investigation of disgraced former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News has learned.The revelation comes in stark contrast to statements made by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who addressed his own criminal inquiry of Armstrong for the first time publicly on Tuesday. Birotte's...

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Strengthening security at the nation’s airports

Most people think of airport security as their walk through the metal detector and the eyeballing by transportation security officers (TSOs). Dan Liddell, whose job it is to protect the flying public at seven airports in central New York, instead sees 17 zones of worker responsibility and hundreds of different tasks. In pursuit of safeguarding the public, Liddell, a federal security director...

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"Promoting marriage & parenthood" central to keeping S'porean core

SINGAPORE: Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu has spoken about what it means by keeping the Singaporean core at the heart of the country's population policies.She made the comments on day two of the parliamentary debate on the White Paper on Population and Land Use Plan.Ms Fu said promoting marriage and parenthood is central to maintaining a strong Singaporean core.And allowing...

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DMK MLAs evicted from TN assembly

CHENNAI: Opposition DMK MLAs were evicted en masse from the Tamil Nadu assembly following a fiery exchange of words with the treasury benches and the MLAs staging a dharna before the speaker's chair. The issue of provocation came from housing minister R Vaithilingam, who made some remarks over DMK's participation in the Congress-led UPA Cabinet which prompted angry reaction from the opposition MLAs...

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Space Pictures This Week: A Space Monkey, Printing a Moon Base

Illustration courtesy Foster and Partners/ESAThe European Space Agency (ESA) announced January 31 that it is looking into building a moon base (pictured in an artist's conception) using a technique called 3-D printing.It probably won't be as easy as whipping out a printer, hooking it to a computer, and pressing "print," but using lunar soils as the basis for actual building blocks could be a possibility."Terrestrial...

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Sarai Sierra's 2 Young Boys Don't Know Mom's Dead

The two young sons of slain New York mom Sarai Sierra are under the impression that their father has gone to Turkey to bring their mother home - alive.Sierra, whose battered body was found near a highway in Istanbul over the weekend, was the mother of two boys aged 9 and 11.Steven Sierra, who went to Istanbul in search of his wife after she disappeared nearly two weeks ago,...

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